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18/07/2006
Maiden City festival called off over funding
The organisers of the Apprentice Boys' Maiden City Festival in Londonderry have announced that this year's event has been called off.
In a statement, the organisers said: "Urgent attention needs to be addressed towards a clear and agreed framework for funding that removes the 11th hour funding crisis that has defeated and demoralised the festival team this year.
"This requires conclusive attention in the autumn if there is to be a Maiden City Festival in 2007 and beyond."
David Hoey, one of the organisers, blamed "petty bureaucracy" and "technocractic bun-fighting" between agencies and government departments for the cancellation of the event. He said: "We have spent the past three to four months trying to secure funding for 2006. Our three year forward plans contained the most exciting, innovative ideas that stretched the festival into new and imaginative fields without a huge amount of additional cost over that period. At the outset, we were hugely optimistic about the future of the Maiden City Festival, now matched by our enormous disappointment at having to call it a day for 2006.
"In the end, three to four months of being told how we had provided more than enough information and how the festival must happen, has still left us with three weeks to organise the festival without funding security for the event.
"The festival is about building bridges and all we could see in the future was a battle that was not of our choosing, in which we were only a third party caught in the cross-fire. We are not prepared to take the risk of proceeding with a festival simply to 'do something' and end up with a patched-up programme that weakens the festival brand."
A few events will be held in 2006 during the week before August 12, but not as Maiden City Festival activity.
The festival commemorates the actions of the Protestant Apprentice Boys who closed the gates of the city against the forces of Catholic King James in 1688 and the subsequent Siege of Londonderry until the city was relieved by the forces of King William of Orange in August 1689.
(KMcA/GB)
In a statement, the organisers said: "Urgent attention needs to be addressed towards a clear and agreed framework for funding that removes the 11th hour funding crisis that has defeated and demoralised the festival team this year.
"This requires conclusive attention in the autumn if there is to be a Maiden City Festival in 2007 and beyond."
David Hoey, one of the organisers, blamed "petty bureaucracy" and "technocractic bun-fighting" between agencies and government departments for the cancellation of the event. He said: "We have spent the past three to four months trying to secure funding for 2006. Our three year forward plans contained the most exciting, innovative ideas that stretched the festival into new and imaginative fields without a huge amount of additional cost over that period. At the outset, we were hugely optimistic about the future of the Maiden City Festival, now matched by our enormous disappointment at having to call it a day for 2006.
"In the end, three to four months of being told how we had provided more than enough information and how the festival must happen, has still left us with three weeks to organise the festival without funding security for the event.
"The festival is about building bridges and all we could see in the future was a battle that was not of our choosing, in which we were only a third party caught in the cross-fire. We are not prepared to take the risk of proceeding with a festival simply to 'do something' and end up with a patched-up programme that weakens the festival brand."
A few events will be held in 2006 during the week before August 12, but not as Maiden City Festival activity.
The festival commemorates the actions of the Protestant Apprentice Boys who closed the gates of the city against the forces of Catholic King James in 1688 and the subsequent Siege of Londonderry until the city was relieved by the forces of King William of Orange in August 1689.
(KMcA/GB)
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